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Interview Eternal Frost ezine |
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Thursday, 30 November 2000 |
Here is a Dutch band that honestly sounds like no one else out there. Sure, some moments bring to mind certain bands, but overall, these guys come out sounding refreshingly original. They aren't death metal, but they sure aren't radio-rock either. Is your interest piqued? Read on to find out more about this talented young band.....
Eternal Frost: Start things off with a little history on the band: how Non-Divine formed, how long you've been together. Has there been any line-up trouble? How did you decide upon the name Non-Divie (taken from At The Gates by any chance)?
Ivor van Beek (vocals/guitar): We started in the beginning of 1999. I wanted to start a new band. I asked my brother Martin (we never played before in a band together) and Ruben, the drummer of the band we already played in. This other band "died" in April this year. We just began with the three of us and searched [for] a bass-player. Alco Emaus became our man in May 1999. We didn't know him before. So there haven't been any line-up troubles and we hope it stays this way. We are close friends and have a lot of fun together.
Yeah!!! You are right. It was very hard to find a cool band name so we started to search in CD booklets for a name. We found our band name in the song "World of Lies" that can be found on the album Slaughter of the Soul by At The Gates. We like that album a lot and liked the idea that our name would be taken from it. Later we discovered that Non-Divine is also a song off the album With Fear I Kiss the Burning Darkness.
I had a bit of trouble reviewing the CD you sent, but I really loved it! How would you go about describing your music to prospective listeners?
We feel really pride when people like our music. It gives us a lot of positive energy. Thanks!!!
We would describe it as groovy metal. Our music is not that extreme for metalheads because we like catchy songs and groovy rhythms. Melody is also very important for us. There are a lot of twins and harmonies in the guitars. A lot of people hear influences of all kinds of music. That's correct because there are a lot influences. People who like heavy rock music could like it and metalheads can hear influences from all sorts of metal including death metal.
The lyrics are very interesting, particularly to me since I've dealt with some of the topics you sing about. Even though the booklet says the lyrics are fiction, I'm curious if any of you experienced any of these things, either yourselves or within other relationships (family, friends, etc.)? Where does the inspiration for the lyrics originate? Perhaps Metallica's classic song "Welcome Home (Sanatarium)" influenced you a bit?
None of us has ever experienced psychiatric diseases (yet). Also friends or family are not involved. We know the song "Welcome Home (Sanatarium)" for years of course but it wasn't an inspiration at all. But in fact it is a song where the inspiration of the idea of our concept album about a lunatic asylum began. It is the song "Neerg" from the album Multiverse of the Swedish band Mourning Sign. In this song there is a mental patient who tells the story about his every day life. One of those things is the fact that he likes the color green so much.
Have you sent the CD to any labels yet? Are you sending it to many fanzines/magazines? What else are you doing to promote Non-Divine?
Our CD My Obsession is very new. It's released almost in July 2000. It's important not to go mad (hehe) when you are a new band who has its first ever CD in hands. That's why we go for reviews first including several metal e-zines. You can show the opinion of people before you knock on the doors of record labels or places where you want to play. We don't have a label or management so we are very busy with taking care of everything. Also, Internet is something that keeps us busy. We improved our homepage recently, so check it out!
Are there any other Dutch bands that play in a similar style to Non-Divine? I have to say your sound and especially your lyrical approach are rather original. What kind of bands do you gig with? Are the crowds responsive?
We don't know Dutch bands that sound like us. We also don't want to copy bands we like. We have our own ideas of composing songs and we thought about our sound a lot. We play with bands with various styles. From alternative rock to hardcore to death metal. We hear a lot of positive words from the audience. That's always cool, of course.
Where all have you played? Have you had the chance to do shows outside The Netherlands yet? Will you be doing a full-scale tour when the full-length is released?
Wow, if that might be true? Cool. If we could pack our bags and go for a tour outside The Netherlands we would go for it immediately. But till that time we try to become a little bit famous in The Netherlands first.
The booklet says that the five songs on the CD you sent are precursors to an upcoming full-length. Will any of these five tracks also appear on that full-length? Has a title been chosen yet? Will it be a self-released CD or is there label participation?
That's right. The CD My Obsession is more like a promotional CD. Call it a demo CD or a self-financed MCD. We chose not to work till the whole album was completed because that would cost a lot of time. In that time nobody would be able to hear Non-Divine and we wouldn't be able to play because people want to hear a band before placing it. We thought the best solution was making a MCD first with already some tracks from the forthcoming album. We recorded eight songs including two covers. One song called "Burning Time" didn't make it to the MCD. It took us a lot of time and we will write the other half of the CD as soon as possible. We don't know which songs of My Obsession will stay and when the CD will be finished but new songs are stronger than old ones. When it is recorded, we will try label participation.
Also in regards to the booklet, the band photo makes you guys look very approachable, like someone could just walk up to you and strike up a conversation, unlike the band photos I'm accustomed to (spikes, leather, grimaces and such). What are you guys like in everyday life? What kind of jobs do you all have?
Thanks, thanks, thanks. We thought that never ever a human being would have the idea of walking up to us and wanted a conversation. (hehe)
But seriously, we are just normal people with a great interest for metal and making that music. We like our clothing black and like long hair but we are not interested in "gore" and "corpse paint" looks. When you are used to that, Non-Divine is just different.
We are all very busy in everyday life because music is our hobby, not our job. Martin, Ruben and Alco are students. I work for the state: Ministry of Water and Traffic. We also have our lovely girlfriends who need some attention too. So we don't have time to be bored. Our homepage includes a musician's profile where people can read more about us.
Since Eternal Frost is an extreme metal webzine and you guys still chose to send the CD, I'm wondering if any of you listen to any death or black metal? I was and am still surprised that I liked your CD so much, since I'm more for the brutal death/black metal!
We all like death metal a lot. We don't play it but we feel comfortable in this scene as fans. We like bands like In Flames, Eucharist, Meshuggah, Grave and Death. Some influences can be found in our music. Maybe that is the reason why fans of brutal music like our music, too.
Well, I wish you much luck with the full-length and can't wait till it's released! Cheers on the cool CD! Is there anything left to be said?
Thanks a lot, man! Again we appreciate this support a lot. It's great to hear enthusiasm all over the world. In fact this is the first reaction from the USA! So cheers to you, too!!! Please feel free to contact us anytime! Thank you - we had a lot of fun doing this interview! Good luck with Eternal Frost.
http://surf. to/eternalfrost
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